PACE prolongs senior independence

Medical, home assistance provided in service zone

Roger Berg, 69, had his blood pressure checked by Deborah Spalding, a nurse with St. Paul’s Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, which provides seniors with enough help to live at home.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda / UNION-TRIBUNE

Roger Berg, 69, had his blood pressure checked by Deborah Spalding, a nurse with St. Paul’s Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, which provides seniors with enough help to live at home.
— Nelvin C. Cepeda / UNION-TRIBUNE

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For more information about the program, call (619) 677-3800 or go to stpaulspace.org.

For seniors who live alone, independence can come to an abrupt end when injury or illness forces them into a nursing home.

The move can cause a painful break from the people and places they know best, and can signal the start of a rapid physical decline.

Some San Diegans are fighting off the scenario with help from an innovative program that coordinates adult day care, medical treatment, drug management, physical therapy, mental health services, home aid, housekeeping services and transportation under one roof.

They aren’t the only ones benefiting from St. Paul’s Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, better known as PACE. The nonprofit project, which functions like a health maintenance organization, is the only one of its kind in the county and one of 70 nationwide.

Medicare and Medi-Cal, the agencies that cover health costs for seniors, have praised these programs for working to save money not only by emphasizing preventive care but also by making it convenient. Studies have shown that aggressive and proactive case management cuts down on expensive hospitalizations and intensive stays in a nursing home.

Most seniors who live on their own typically receive health care and home assistance from a fragmented array of agencies, private groups and community organizations.

“PACE really is the only significant effort that links medical and long-term care services together really well,” said Marty Lynch, chief executive officer of Lifelong Medical Care, a nonprofit in Berkeley. “You actually get the doctors and people who do the personal care and transportation working and talking together. It’s pretty amazing.”

St. Paul’s PACE program began nearly two years ago with the opening of a center on the edge of downtown San Diego. The facility is serving 105 clients, who are at least 55 years old, and its administrators are looking to expand the project to serve 175 people.

In the long run, St. Paul’s leaders hope to create another center in the South Bay and a third in East County.

Bernard Corrigan said the program saved his life.

Corrigan, 81, a native of Scotland, was living alone in a downtown apartment complex for seniors when he enrolled in PACE around March 2008.

His breathing had become increasingly laborious because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asbestos exposure from working in construction. The health problems left him virtually homebound, unable to do much housekeeping or prepare meals for himself.

“I thought I wouldn’t last three more months,” Corrigan said while taking a break from physical therapy at the PACE center on Elm Street.

“I’ve put on weight” since becoming a member, he said. “I was in a wheelchair, but now I’m walking. The program has helped me tremendously.”

The results achieved by PACE — better medical outcomes without spending more money — are a rarity for the health system. They also align with President Barack Obama’s health reform efforts, which seek to rein in costs without sacrificing patient care.